Math could be used to prevent elephant poaching. Image credit: Pixabay

Mathematics can help reduce poaching and illegal logging in national parks, researchers have found.

A
team of applied mathematicians including Macquarie University’s David Arnold
has developed an algorithm that predicts which areas inside park boundaries
offer the greatest possibilities for criminals – and how rangers can most
efficiently combat them.

A new microscope-based method for detecting a particular molecule in the spinal cord could help lead to an accurate and independent universal pain scale, research from Australia’s Macquarie University suggests.

An accurate way of
measuring pain is of critical importance because at present degrees of
discomfort are generally assessed by asking a patient to estimate pain on a
one-to-10 scale. The situation is even more acute in the treatment of babies,
the very old and animals, where speech is absent.

Citizen scientists should be
included as authors on journal papers, researchers say.

In a paper published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, a team led by biologist Dr Georgia Ward-Fear from Macquarie University in Australia and Dr Greg Pauly from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles argues that newfound respect for indigenous knowledge and changes in technology mean that non-professionals are taking greater roles in science work.

A novel citizen science project in New Caledonia finds an ‘astonishing’ number of venomous reptiles in a popular swimming spot.

A group of snorkelling
grandmothers is helping scientists better understand marine ecology by
photographing venomous sea snakes in waters off the city of Noumea, New Caledonia.

Two years ago the seven women, all in their 60s and 70s, who call
themselves “the fantastic grandmothers”, offered to help scientists Dr Claire
Goiran from the University of New Caledonia and Professor Rick Shine from
Australia’s Macquarie University in their quest to document the sea snake
population in a popular swimming spot known as Baie des citrons.

Apex marine predators choose who they hang with, researchers reveal.

Although normally
solitary predators, white sharks (Carcharodon
carcharias) gather in large numbers at certain times of year in
order to feast on baby seals.

These groupings, scientists had assumed, were essentially random – the result of individual sharks all happening to turn up in the same area, attracted by abundant food.

Now, however,
a group of researchers including behavioural ecologist Stephan Leu from
Macquarie University in New South Wales, Australia, have used photo-identification
and network analysis to show that many of the apex predators hang out in groups
which persist for years.

Analysis of reef damage in the Indo-Pacific during the 2016 El Nino reveals that several different stressors influence bleaching.

Coral responses to temperature depend on a range of local inputs. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Scientists in the Indian and Pacific Oceans used the El Nino of 2016 – the warmest year on record – to evaluate the role of excess heat as the leading driver of coral bleaching and discovered the picture was more nuanced than existing models showed.

The findings were, in a word, complicated, according to marine researchers led by the US based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The international cohort included scientists from Macquarie University in NSW, the University of Queensland, University of WA and two western Australian state government departments.

The shape of immune cells plays key role in recognising invaders.

The ruffled surface of a T cell means only very small areas make close contact with potential enemy cells. CREDIT: Blausen Medical

The way immune cells pick friends from foes can be described by a classic maths puzzle known as the “narrow escape problem”.

That’s a key finding arising from an international
collaboration between biologists, immunologists and mathematicians, published
in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The narrow escape problem is a framework often applied in cellular
biology. It posits randomly moving particles trapped in a space with only a
tiny exit, and calculates the average time required for each one to escape.

Members of at least one species choose mates and egg sites based on where they were born, research reveals

Two American passionfruit butterflies, Heliconius charithonia, part of Dr Darrell Kemp’s research cohort. Credit: Darrell Kemp.

Birthplace exerts
a lifelong influence on butterflies as well as humans, new research reveals.

In a paper
published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological
Sciences, Macquarie University ARC Future Fellow Associate Professor
Darrell Kemp reveals that the American passionfruit butterfly, Heliconius
charithonia, selects its mate and egg-laying site based on the species of
plant that hosted its own egg.

Sarah is an excellent communicator. I usually find it difficult to engage in a full day's course, but I did not feel that way at this course.

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

2020-01-28T14:37:41+11:00

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

Sarah is an excellent communicator. I usually find it difficult to engage in a full day's course, but I did not feel that way at this course.

https://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/testimonials/24338

Really liked the way you trained everyone on their field to help them on their research and how they can maximise it.

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

2020-01-28T14:48:26+11:00

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

Really liked the way you trained everyone on their field to help them on their research and how they can maximise it.

https://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/testimonials/24339

I think we should receive this kind of training since graduate studies.

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

2020-01-28T14:55:33+11:00

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

I think we should receive this kind of training since graduate studies.

https://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/testimonials/24341

Well presented & great format

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

2020-01-28T15:03:20+11:00

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

Well presented & great format

https://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/testimonials/24342

Sarah's structure of the course, specific insight and understanding of science, her contacts and common mistakes made in communication were great and furthered my skills in this area.

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

2020-01-28T15:04:28+11:00

Anonymous - Sydney Jan 2020

Sarah's structure of the course, specific insight and understanding of science, her contacts and common mistakes made in communication were great and furthered my skills in this area.

https://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/testimonials/24343

This is one of the best science communication courses I have ever encountered. It teaches all research to think out of box and really simplify their research in lay man's language. I will highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about science communication.

Shwathy Ramesh

2020-02-24T09:29:55+11:00

Shwathy Ramesh

This is one of the best science communication courses I have ever encountered. It teaches all research to think out of box and really simplify their research in lay man's language. I will highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about science communication.